(Credit: Microsoft)
Nvidia's upcoming RTX Spark PC chip is coming to laptops, but also mini PCs, and Microsoft will be among the vendors developing one.
At its Build conference, Microsoft introduced the Surface RTX Spark Dev box, which has been designed to run Windows 11 Pro and has enough computing power to run AI models locally.
The mini PC isn’t exactly for consumers, though; Microsoft is pitching it to software developers looking to prototype, fine-tune, and run their own AI models on their desk, rather than sourcing compute power from costly cloud-based servers.
As an RTX Spark device, the mini PC can run large language models with up to 120 billion parameters. The mini PC uses Nvidia's Arm-based PC chip, which features a built-in Blackwell GPU and can leverage a whopping 128GB of unified memory shared with the CPU and GPU.
Other PC vendors are also developing RTX Spark mini PCs. But Microsoft notes that its model features a "100W sustained thermal envelope and an aluminum chassis engineered to double as a heatsink," enabling the machine to run AI models over a long period.
“Surface RTX Spark Dev Box ships with Windows 11 Pro pre-configured for developers at the image level,” Microsoft added. “This brings a purposeful set of defaults, preinstalled tools, and tuned settings so the development environment is the default from first sign-in.”
The product joins a growing category of PC hardware specifically meant to run AI models. Nvidia has been selling AI-focused mini PCs and desktops under its DGX Spark and DGX Station product lines, but they run a custom version of the Linux-based Ubuntu OS. Now the company is partnering with Microsoft and PC manufacturers to push the Windows 11-based RTX Spark.
At Computex, Microsoft also introduced the 15-inch Surface Laptop Ultra, which uses Nvidia’s RTX Spark. Redmond has described the new Surface laptop as its most powerful yet.
In contrast, the RTX Spark Dev Box sounds more like a niche product. The company notes, “Surface RTX Spark Dev Box will be available later this year in the US exclusively on Microsoft.com,” suggesting it won’t have a major retail presence.
There’s no word on pricing, but they’ll likely be expensive. Nvidia has been emphasizing that the first RTX Spark laptops will be premium, and 128GB of unified memory also suggests maxed-out RTX Spark devices will cost north of $3,000. We expect the company to announce more details closer to the RTX Spark launch date this fall.